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Re: The hypocrisy of the right knows no bounds.

There may be a reason that the media is going ballistic over SOB NFL players taking a knee, rather than a nothingburger story about a private email server. It's not like it's anything to lose an election over, eh?

Got to hand it to the orange guy, he sure knows how to draw fire.

If I use the word "God," I sure don't mean an old man in the sky who just loves the occasional goat sacrifice. - Anne Lamott

Re: The hypocrisy of the right knows no bounds.

So today there is the one and only hearing on the latest repeal/replace attempt, and there's the Kushner email story, and God knows what else.

Seems like a great time to ratchet up the trolling behaviour by all the surrogates, and blanket the airwaves. The paid GOP shill yesterday on CNN was decrying all these football players taking a knee, insisting that this had nothing at all to do with Kap. That the football players didn't think at all of Kap's protest of disparities in police treatment of folks of different colours and were instead solely protesting Trump. That it wasn't about race relations at all, just about Dem/Rep stuff.

Whatever you think of that argument, it's a brilliant distraction from substantial issues like health bills and oops private email servers.

If I use the word "God," I sure don't mean an old man in the sky who just loves the occasional goat sacrifice. - Anne Lamott

Re: The hypocrisy of the right knows no bounds.

Chris,

The thing about so many powerful people is that they, above all else, want to hold onto their power--no matter what. Yes, I have looked at the power complex in my own psyche quite intimately and closely, through personally devastating times, and good, tragedies and triumphs.

Power, without moral authority behind it, is an empty gesture that in the end crumbles of its own weight. Powerful people, on both the so called left and right, suffer this complex and its corruptions. Those that follow them blindly, without looking at their own moral shortcomings, end up, as Skuthorp said, not seeing the often horrific shortcomings of their own leaders.

When not looked at, a complex ends up projected into the environment. In our current political divide, it ends up projected onto the perceived opposition in spades.

"Passion and reason cannot exist side by side, therefore fight without quarter is necessary if the good is to prevail. In a resolute struggle of the good against evil, there are, however, definite rules that must not be disregarded, if it is to succeed. First, resolution must be based on a union of strength and friendliness. Second, a compromise with evil is not possible; evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited. Nor must our own passions and shortcomings be glossed over. Third, the struggle must not be carried on directly by force. If evil is branded, it thinks of weapons, and if we do it the favor of fighting against it blow for blow, we lose in the end because thus we ourselves get entangled in hatred and passion. Therefore it is important to begin at home, to be on guard in our own persons against the faults we have branded. In this way, finding no opponent, the sharp edges of the weapons of evil becomes dulled. For the same reasons we should not combat our own faults directly. As long as we wrestle with them, they continue victorious. Finally, the best way to fight evil is to make energetic progress in the good"

I Ching hexagram 43 (Wilhelm trans)

This power complex is a wily bastard, Chris. That's why it is only by dint of constant and thorough self-examination, an ongoing "moral inventory" to use the vernacular of AA, that we can avoid falling into its traps. We won't avoid those traps without looking first, constantly, at our own tremendous potential for self-deception and hypocrisy. That takes a conscious commitment to humility, which is something I've noticed doesn't come naturally to we humans.

"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."

Re: The hypocrisy of the right knows no bounds.

Originally Posted by ishmael

I don't know why, but one last time I implore all of us to look in the mirror.

Oops... another lame attempt at False Equivalence. I know you're working on your issues... but it ain't totally working. I'd suggest you get some help/guidance. Work with a therapist of some sort... and your efforts toward self-examination... toward getting comfortable in your own skin... will be leveraged by their expertise. More movement. Less mental masturb*****. The potential is there to unlock the doors to clarity. Perhaps even brilliance. But it's up to you. Stay stuck - or grow.

Re: The hypocrisy of the right knows no bounds.

Originally Posted by ishmael

^Project much?

Some... but not much. I do, however, speak from experience. Whether you choose to learn from others experience... or insist on battering the brick wall with your very own dome... is entirely up to you.